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GOAL, GOAL, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal, Goal… Goal!
Michelle and I begrudgingly watched the Super Bowl about every other year, before moving, for the commercials and a reason to make themed food, but otherwise we had little interest in football in the United States. American football (to me) seemed like a bloated, over-commercialized, and excessively violent waste of an afternoon. Other than the…
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Weekend In Coimbra
When we were preparing to move to Portugal our real estate agent introduced us to another couple (Randy and Corinne) who were also preparing for their international move. Their house had just sold, they had already been on a scouting trip to Portugal and fell in love with the country. We moved about a month…
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Festival Med 2023
Our wonderful friend Jorge (our Portuguese professor) loves live music of almost any variety. Jorge had been telling us and other students in his classes that Festival Med in the nearby town of Loulé is an amazing event, he was going and offered to have us join his group if we were interested. The festival…
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We Made It 1 Year
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Festas And Fun
The season of holiday parties was upon us and we said yes to almost any reason to celebrate the remaining weeks of 2022. Two parties in the countryside: One of our classmates lives in Moncarapacho which is about 7 kilometers from Olhão and we attended two social gatherings at her house. The first was a…
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Giving Thanks Abroad
November sits right between two movie filled months, Michelle’s horror extravaganza in October and Andrew’s Christmas romantic comedies in December. It’s that time where many Americans make a full transition to having lives dictated by various holidays and parties for six weeks or so. Fittingly, it was a transitional month for our lives in Portugal…
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Our Dance Card Is Filling Up
In Medford we had a few “non-work” friends, but every year or so we’d talk about making a concerted effort to expand out to new social circles. We made amazing and hopefully lifelong friendships with coworker and work associates but those gatherings almost always circled back to endless conversations about our job. After almost 20…
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2 Months In Portugal
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We Got Here With A LOT Of Help From Our Friends (And Family)
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May Retirement Status
Retirement: I did it! It feels like it has been months since my last day as a 911 dispatcher (instead of just over three weeks). I’ve spent a large portion of that time doing first hand research into becoming an “international shipping and packing consultant”. Thanks to my great friends (and Michelle who stopped in)…